


Congratulations you are the father

by YetiAtItAgain



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, This is an AU, and going to have OCs, but I don't feel it's right to tag them, google translator was used, technically this fic includes the Knight and the Hollow Knight, where humor is going to be the focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-11-18 10:36:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18119102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YetiAtItAgain/pseuds/YetiAtItAgain
Summary: This story is a what-if scenario where the White Lady takes responsibility and saves her children from the Abyss and the Pale King have to deal with it.It's going to be more fluff centric





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Any English errors feel free to tell me ^^
> 
> This AU is based on some drawings I did some time ago with you want to see all the Vessels  
> absolute-shitposting.tumblr.com/post/183279021642/before-anything-im-terrible-with-names-this-is  
> (some sizes are wrong, but didn't had time to fix it)

For the first time in many years the King was apprehensive, his plans were put in hold because of his royal tasks if only Bartoh wasn’t there he wouldn’t be stuck in that stupid meeting that took days, why nobles take so long to decide where they should or not give a title to some common bug that saved the life of some aristocrats? This wasn’t the time to care about frivolous things like that, that strange disease was started to show more and more around the kingdom like a terrible infection and his only plan had to be put on hold for this meeting, his loyal servants are too scared to question why he was so nervous so the travel back to the castle was almost silent with only the sound of the royal stag running.

The travel took longer than necessary for the Pale King that was already anxious _“I really hope the perfect vessel didn’t die in the time I took to get here…”_   was the only thing in the king mind, when he finally got to the castle he was trying his best to rush the cordial greetings with his servants and get some kingmolds to go to the abyss in no time

“Congratulations my king!” said a servant bowing to him the king got confused _“Congratulations for what!?”_   he stared to the other servants that are with him all of them had a puzzled look

“Why are you congratulating me Irdu?” he tried to say in his formal voice Irdu looked up to him

“For your children my king, you most feel honorable they are a magnificent bunch.” If the King didn’t have to spend so many years around monarchs and royals saying absurd stuff he would have screamed at the top of his lungs, but he took a long breath

“My children? Can you take me to them?” he said on the most calming voice possible

“Of course, my king! They are with the queen!” said Irdu smiling _“So the queen really hide some of the eggs from me it seems, I can’t really blame her… I can only hope it was only two or three eggs…”_   he thought shaking his head if he didn’t know it was his children he would guess that they are from Irdu he was really much more happy than him, well Irdu was the servant that tried his best to convince the king to have an heir, for him they would reinforce the kingdom for the Pale King an heir was not necessary, he didn’t see the purpose of them when he would rule Hallownest for eternity.

When the got to the door where the queen and his children where the king stopped and looked to the servants that were following him

“I want to see then first without company!” his voice was a little hasty than the normal what made his servants departed quickly after bowing to him, after his servants aren’t seen in the corridor he entered the room. In the room was White Lady, five children, and some maids were taking measures of the kids, White Lady was too distracted to notice him entering the room, Pale King saw in horror _“FIVE!?! ONE IS TOO MANY ALREADY!”_ some maids noticed him and bowing to him in unison

“Welcome back my king!” the children got confused why the maids stopped measuring them, and looked to him with curiously, but got scared with his look and hide behind their mother

“Can you leave us alone for some time?” he tried to say calmly falling miserable

“Of… of course, my king!” the maids said already walking the faster as possible to get out of the room, when they close the door he didn’t hold back

“MY ROOT WHY!?” White Lady sighed

“This is how you want to be the first impression with your children?” he got closer

“I DON’T CARE I SAID NO HEIRS!” the children got scared and the queen tried her best to calm them

“IS ALREADY BAD ENOUGH THAT I HAD TO MAKE A VE...ssel…” he took a closer look at the children

“They aren’t... what I think it is?” he said in disbelief

“Our children? YOUR children?” she said angrily

“That’s not ‘ours’ my Root, they don’t even think!” he said putting his hand on his face “Why take these things out of the abyss? You’re going to destroy the plan…”

“Your moronic plan was going to fail” he snapped a nasty look to her

“What?” she shakes her head and picks a small vessel that was almost crying

“What you think would happen with letting children run around in a dangerous place? Many would get hurt and die…” she said sadly patting another vessel

“Bu... but that's was the plan! The stronger one would come out!” he took a look at the children again “Only the stronger one!” she suspires

“You died from what my Wyrm?” he looked confused at her

“What this had to do with…”

“From injuries!” she cut him “And you’re a giant Wyrm, a god, were you not strong enough? Or a moment of bad luck struck you?”

“Don’t change the subject!” she got angrier

“Are you blind! Your plan would take the luckiest one not the strongest!” he takes a minute to consider “Now with these ones out of that cursed place you can really see which one is the strongest without luck getting in the way!” she put her hand on his shoulder and pressed it lightly “Our kingdom shouldn’t trust luck my Wyrm, it’s a force that no one should depend on…” he sighed

“Okay... I can work with this five and see who…” a thud was heard and another vessel popped from behind the others “Six…” he said massaging his forehead the door was opened by a kingmould

“My queen we find more nine in the abyss! Oh my king, glad to see you return in safety!” it said bowing to him “Fifteen...” he was in the verge of tears the queen patted him in the shoulder with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

“My Root do they really need to stay here?” he said trying to remove one of the vessels from the curtain without damaging it

“Well the nursery was only made for one child, the workers promise me that their new room would be complete in a week.” she said holding some vessels and trying to put them in the bed

“A WEEK!” he shouted making the vessel that he was trying to grab get scared and kicking him in the face “Oh you devil!” he said now holding the escaping one more strongly

“Don’t call them that!” she snapped at him

“But this one is! Not a second had passed in the presence of this creature without it trying to make me miserable in some way!” she giggled

“They are just a kid…” she said grabbing a new runaway

“Not a kid! A vessel!” he said pulling it out of the curtain with all his force taking part of the curtain with it “Or better a vandal! You know how expensive this was!” the vessel could only throw some weak punches at him

“Not as much of your collection of buzzsaws…” he glared at her

“They aren’t a collection!” he said giving her the vessel he was holding

“Then why so many?” he tried to lay on his bed but it was full of vessels all stretched out, he holds up the sheet what made the vessels roll to their mother side

“It’s just for security reasons…” and tried to ignore the pile of kids rolling back at him

“If you say so… I still think that fly fooled you…” he growls, she smiled and shake her head “My lovelies let mother lay on her bed…” she said laying on her bed with caution to not hurt any of her children, when she finally laid on the bed she took some time to fix the kids and not let any to sleep above each other or the king, after she fixed everyone to not pile on each other she took a small tablet from the nightstand

“Reading in the night isn’t good my Root…” the king said sleepily

“I know... but we need to give them names…”

“Well at least one I know what we can go for…” he said smiling

“You’re not naming them devil!” she gave him a light slap in the shoulder he only laugh

“Sadly I can’t name them that... _officially_ …” the queen shooked her head and go back to her book, the last thought that passed on the King mind is that these days are going to be a long.

 

I was still in the dawn when the king was awake by a kick in his stomach

“Who dares...” he only saw two black sockets looking back at him he was confused and took some time for him to remember what that creature was and what it was doing in his bed, before he could notice he started having a staring contest with the vessel, a minute passed and it started to touch his face with wonder what took him out of the 'contest', he looked around his wife and the other vessels were still sleeping, he shakes his head and go back to look at the vessel that was touching him

“What do you want?” he said yawning it gave a quick look at his eyes and started to touch his hand, he sat on his bed and continued to stare at the vessel, it concentrated on just touching him for some time until it hit him softly

“Bah” this got him by surprise

“Oh, so you can speak… well at least I know that I don’t need to spend time with you.” it looked at him confused

“Bah?” he touched its middle horn

“You’re imperfect, impure…” it hit him a little stronger in his face but not strong enough to hurt

“Bah!” it said with glee

“Yeah a bah!” he said giving a pat on its head, the small vessel got happy and clapped its hands, it then start getting out of the bed, the king didn’t want to get up this soon so he just watched the vessel exploring the room it was in awe with everything it found, well the king thought so because all the time would hit something gently and say “Bah!” and looked back at the king he just agree with his head _“Yes the table is ‘bah’ the vase is ‘bah’ the chair is ‘bah’ the chest is ‘bah’ the...”_ the small vessel stopped when it saw the mirror in the room finally found something that it hit but didn’t say ‘bah’, what impressed the king, the vessel was a bit surprised and then tried to hug the mirror and got puzzled of why it couldn’t touch the other vessel the king noticing that it was getting distressed go out of the bed with a sigh, waking up this early wasn’t something he liked, getting up then… he goes to the vessel and then crouched next to it

“It’s just your reflection!” it got scared when the king appeared on the mirror and started pointing at it “And this is my reflection...” he looked back at the vessel that was confused by how the mirror worked “You aren’t clever, are you?” It still was perplexed and started to try to hug the king “Oh no, you aren’t trying to make me care for you, little one!” he said taking it by their cloak and pulling it back to the bed “You aren’t what I need!” he said giving a poke on its head “So now that you already made me get up this early, I’m going to start my day, stay here with your mom.” he said dismissing the small vessel.

 

Starting a day this early really wasn’t in the king's plans, he wanted to see how the nursery was going, resting with so many creatures moving all night didn’t made his sleep any good, but first he needed a bath to fully wake, he couldn't get out of his room in this state. The bathroom was big more for his wife than for him it had a big bath made of white stone, many flowered details were carved on it and had a small waterfall in the side, he entered on the bath and started to scrub himself, he misses when he had servants do this job for him, but after the dalliance with the beast his wife didn’t let him spend more time alone with his female servants _“This isn’t right for a_ ki _…”_ he didn’t even finish his thought that he was hit in the back of his head he didn’t even need to look around to see from who

“Bah?” he said defeated

“BAH!” it said clapping happily

“You don’t understand when you aren’t welcome?” he said looking back at the vessel, this now was distracted with the water, he tried to ignore it and go back to his bath just the second he looked away SPLASH! he facepalmed and the small vessel started to enter in panic but before it started to scream the king picked it up and looked the vessel in the eyes

“Stop this right NOW!” he said putting it back outside of the water, the vessel was still scared from the experience but slowly when it noticed that nothing happened to its father it started to grow some courage and start to play with the water splashing the king from time to time

“Oh so this is how it is, huh?” he said making a small wave that splashed in the vessel face it got startled but didn’t take long to starting to laugh and tried to splash the kings back, he just smiled and continued the water fight with the vessel.

 

When the king was fully clothed he gone back to his room

“My Root I will start the day early.” the queen just looked at him confused

“You woke up early? By yourself?” she said in disbelief

“By myself? No.” he said picking a small vessel that was attached to his leg “This one is all yours, it’s impure.” he said putting it back in the bed

“Why you say that?” she said rubbing her eye, he touched the vessel middle horn

“Bah?”

“Bah!” it said proudly

“It can talk, I don’t need one that can do that.” the White Lady was happily picking the small vessel not noticing that the fast movement was waking up some of the other vessels

“Oh their first words.” the king tried his best to make a blank face at the scene but he was happy for his Root, it has been years since he saw her this happy, his only sadness is that the creature that was giving her joy wasn’t truly a child just a vessel, and an imperfect one, he though before leaving his bedroom, but if it can bring her joy was the only thing that mattered right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always interpreted the part "No voice to cry suffering." as that some of the 'impure/imperfect' vessels could speak and this was why they are discarted.
> 
> So yes some vessels are going to speak on this fic but not all of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Even that the sun still didn’t come out the queen didn’t go back to sleep when her Wyrn left the room, seeing her children sleeping was giving her great joy, they started to try to make a pile on the side of the king and she started to move them to not let them sleep above each other, she could only smile seeing how each one was breathing in their own rhythm, she would from time to time move them to not hurt each other when they stretched or move around, the small one the king gave her was looking at a tablet she was reading they were fascinated by it, always looking to her to show a new word they had found, she would say the word they were pointing they would try to imitate her sound but it had a certain difficulty, she would repeat more slowly and pet them when they tried to pronounce it again.

“You’re doing great little one…” she said with a smile and gave them a nuzzle on the back of their head they let out a laugh and tried to bury more on her robes and continued to point to the words to try to say them.

When the sun started to shine through the windows the others started to wake up

“Had a good night little ones?” 

Some of the kids looked up at her confused and others continued their little routine to stretch out and to rub their eyes

“I would take this as a yes.” she said happily it didn't take long a light knock was hear she got up from the bed “You can enter” five mosskin maids entered the room, the oldest one started to talk

“Good morning my queen” she said bowing the others did the same one of the kids imitate them the older maid smiled “Young master you don’t need to” the queen gave a small chuckle 

“Aster I’m happy to see you, but don’t you need to this anymore you are retired.” 

“Like I’m going to lose these ones growing up! It took you two too long, I was waiting for almost fifty years to see the fruits of your relationship!” Aster said taking one of the kids into her hands the queen shook her head with a smile 

“I thought that after you took care of Hornet you wouldn’t want to care for any more kids…” Aster glance to the queen 

“She was part beast what you expected! But these are normal kids!” she gave a sniff to the one she was holding “That needs a bath urgently! My... my... did they had contact with Ogrim?” she said giving some of the children to the other maids, these ones are getting confused and some tried to go back to the bed

“Not yet, I was going to wait until the king presented them…” she said a little worried

“Hope it is soon, many of the servants are curious to see them.”

 

The bath was quite different from the routine ones it was much more agitated and a little less chatty, the queen was only being assisted by one maid, the other maids were trying their best to clean the kids, some of the children didn’t care about being cleaned and were playing with the water, others tried to shake the water out all the time what made their bath longer than necessary, and one was trying to escape 

“Grab them by the horns, it doesn’t hurt!” Aster said to one of the maids that almost let the kid fleeing, she quickly did what she was told and the little kid could only shake themselves trying to slip again 

“Stop this young master, you need to be clean!” the maid tried her best to calm the child

“Give this one to me” said the queen stretching her arm to grab the child

“I’m sorry…” the maid said looking down embarrassed

“It’s okay, this one is quite agitated, it even kicked the Wyrn in the head last night.” she said picking a clean cloth and wetting it to bath the child, Aster gave a look to the kid 

“Remind me to give them some candy after this.” the White Lady couldn’t help and let out a loud laugh 

“Aster you need to learn to forgive and forget” the queen said calming her child down by let them burrowing themselves into her 

“These are for young bugs, my death is going to be my ‘forgive and forget’” she said brushing a child that was loving their bath

“My queen did you already named them?” said one of the maids, the queen paused 

“Not yet I was going to wait for the Wyrm to help me with it.” 

“He seems so busy these days…” 

“I know… But wouldn’t feel wrong if I named them alone?” Aster picked another kid and started to brush it against their wishes 

“For the best of this poor kids I would suggest to name them alone...” said Aster almost laughing “Imagine this one is going to be called Big Horn.”

“Aster! The Wyrm just like to be  _ practical _ with his nomenclature.”

Aster let out a chuckle “If you say so my queen who am I to disagree…”

 

If the maids had difficulty with the bath trying to put them in the clothing was worse, almost all of them this time didn’t want to wear them and would remove after not so long, after a long time only one was still wearing it but mostly because they were distracted trying to catch the tail of their robes, Aster was rubbing her forehead 

“I’ll too old for this…” the queen chuckle “Now I’m wondering with it’s the kings’ blood that makes the kids be like that…” she looked at the queen “Can we glue…”

“NO!” the queen trying her best to not laugh “Don’t glue my kids to their clothing.”

“Would be easier… just saying…”

It took almost an hour but now every child was dressed the maids were exhausted and the kids gave up on trying to remove their clothing

“I wish that next time they will behave better…” said the queen 

“I wish too... for their own good!” Aster said glaring at the kids, her antenna got up when she heard a weak knock on the door Aster looked to White Lady she could only give a confused look back 

“Niphe go see who this is” one of the youngest maids go in the direction of the door and when she opened she was greeted by one of the kings' servants 

“So… sorry to bother... bu… but the king got preoccupied that the queen didn’t show up…” he said nervously 

“Said that I’m already going…” 

“Ye… Yes! My queen.” he bowed and removed himself from the room 

“Do you think you can take care of them?” 

“I took care of Hornet alone! Of course, we can take care of this ones!" she said with pride "Go now, so the king doesn’t get any more worried” the queen only gave a quick glance to her children 

“And you all behave in my absence!” and was gone to do her chores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that the queens' court is made more of the Mooskins, even that we didn't see them in the Queens Garden I think is because most of them are killed by the mantis.


	4. Chapter 4

The park was full of life for the first time since it’s construction it was finally being used to its true purpose letting children play around in it, the park had a small lake and a garden that was invested with weeds and it had a gazebo in the middle that was full of vines outside for the lack of use and maintenance, but the rest of the structures was still in good condition, some of the staffers are cleaning the interior of the place.

If the children respect their mother words would have been great, but they decided to defy it to the misery of their caretakers, some are climbing the vines on the walls, others are making holes in the small garden, but most are curious, everything was new to them after all, and they were getting in hard to reach places, Aster was too old to keep with the kids so she let the younger staff take care of them, she even asked for some of the guards she trusted to help, she was sitting down in a bench and a child was next to her swinging their legs, some of the kids started to brawl against each other and one of the guards was trying to separate them without much success, Aster gave a sigh

“Let them fight!” the guard got confused and looked at her still holding one of the kids that was trying their best to go back to the fight “Only separated them when one start crying!” the guard was nervous but obeyed her and let the small kid back this was happy to be put back to the ground and was tackled by another, the guard was still very alarmed with the situation, Aster gave a soft laugh “at least they burn some energy with themselves...” she said low so only to the kid next to her could hear it but this one was concentrated in the fight

“I’m happy that you aren’t trying to kill yourself like your kin but still, I think you should at least be playing around a little…” the child looked at her confused she smiled and pet their head “I see you’re the calm type...” the kid move closer to her so she could pat them more easily it made a small noise of satisfaction. One of the caretakers noticed that one that was digging in the garden got their head stuck in the dirt he tried his best to dig the kid up without getting them hurt, after finally getting the kid out of the hole and start to clean them, another one that was running fallen in the now bigger hole and got one of their horns stuck in the soft ground and the caretakers start his mission again after a muffled shriek, Aster shook her head and looked up and found a kid that was tangled in some vines of the gazebo and got impressed how they get in there so quickly

“Zacor!” the guard that was helping some of the kids make mud cakes looked at her, she pointed with her cane to the small kid that was tangled “Can you use your wings to catch them?” when she looked at the kid tangled she almost scream, but quickly fly to help them, Zacor thought would be easier to remove the kid but noticed that the vine had some thorns so she was removing the child and their clothing with caution to not hurt them, this one was crying a little when she flies back to the ground

“Everything is okay young master, don’t need to worry anymore…” she said trying to calm the child that didn’t want to stop hugging her “It’s okay… it’s okay…” she continued to say softly until she went to Aster “Madam this one need some medical care…” Aster shook her head and looked to the kid that was with her

“At least you’re civilized…” she said stroking the kid head one last time before getting up “Come here…” she said offering her hand to the child, it started to go down of the bench that still was too tall for them and then took her hand “Zacor come here with the little one.” they go to the gazebo that was now clean and Aster put some pillows on the floor “Put them here, I’m going to get some of the remedies.” Zacor put the child slowly in the pillows they still didn’t want to stop hugging her “And you take care of your sibling when I’m gone,” she said to the child that was with her, they didn’t look up to her because they are concentrated in their injured sibling, Zacor and the other child were petting the injured one to calm them. It didn’t take long to Aster come back with a small container that looked like that was made of a dark green shell, she opened it and start taken out some of the items she was going to need, she put a liquid in a cotton ball, force the kid to stay in place in the pillows and started pass in the injuries the kid struggle and cried harder

“It’s mute?” Zacor said without thinking, Aster gave her a side glance

“Some are…” she said a bit sad, but still taking care of the injuries

“Does the king knows?” the young bug said lower

“If he knows he still didn’t do anything to them…” Zacor now looking at the injured child

“I hope he doesn’t do anything to them…” she said petting the kid more softly when Aster release the kid they quickly run to Zacor to hug her “It’s okay young master… soon everything going to stop to hurt…”

“Just don’t go up the vines again!” said Aster in a joking tone petting them in the head and going to put the medicine back at its place, the other kid looked at Aster going but quickly looked back to their sibling.

Aster leaves the gazebo she didn't even walk much and some kids started to use her as a barrier to their game of tag, she tried to remove the two that was behind of her hitting them with her cane lightly “Shoo! Shoo!” one kid got at first confused but didn’t take long to start to try to grab her cane “This is not a game!” she said a bit mad holding her cane up the other kid was in front of her started to climb on her _“What I did to deserve it…”_ Some of the guards noticed what was happening and run to help her and start to pick each kid with each of their four arms

“They make quite the ruckus.” they said with a laugh

“Ye… Yes, thank you…” she looked at them, but didn’t remember their face “Sorry I must not have got your name?” the guard was letting the kids climb on them and they are trying to take their helmet off

“Oh sorry... I forgot to present myself, I’m quite new you see…” they said with a smile “My name is Senka, Madam Aster!” they said with a bow and hold the kids so they didn’t fall with the movement, these got scared and started to hold of their arms as their lives depended on it “I was called to protect these kids and today to help you with anything you want.” Aster gave a soft smile

“At least you have four arms, this is going to help you a lot!”

"Well I can only hope" he gave a loud laugh she then started to go back to store the medicine to the right place, Senka started to put the kids down when she was more distant and gave one their helmet

“Hey it looks nice on you, maybe you can even become a knight one day!” they say bopping the kid in the head this one was happy with their new helmet, but didn’t take long to their siblings tackle them to the ground to try to steal it, Senka was surprised and was a bit in shock, but quickly laugh at the situation and took their helmet back so no more kids would be attacked thanks to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note many characters I name is just to be easier to know who is doing what, most of them only going to show once.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I want to thank my friend for helping me fix some english errors ^^
> 
> And second, I'm sorry for taking this long to post the new chapter, my notebook broke and still couldn't fix it ^^"

The small bug that came to call her said that she was summoned to see the king. She didn’t try to press the nervous bug any further so it didn’t have a heart attack - just her presence was making the small bug be paler than the usual, and probably her Wyrm would like it more this way, she thought - it wasn’t a long distance until they finally reached the meeting room. The small bug looked at her

“My queen wait here, I’m going to see if you can enter now!” it said in a burst of confidence, that was probably faked, but she didn’t mind. She just wanted to go back to her kids, she could hear some sort of conversation going behind the door but she couldn’t make most of the words that were being said, no longer the small bug came back

“You can enter now, my queen.” he said trying to push the bigger door so she could enter - she was accustomed to opening her own doors, most bugs couldn’t open it, they were too small. She gave him a compliment and entered the room. The small servant was ashamed for not having the strength to open it, but she didn’t mind. The king was fumbling with some papers when she entered the room, and she quickly noticed that he seemed alone,  _ strange. _

“My Wyrm you called me?” he almost let some of the papers fall down and looked to her nervous

“Yes, I need you to do me some favors… and…” he started again messing with the papers, and she got a weird feeling

“Are you alright?” she got next to him and said more softly and handed him a small container “You forgot your remedy didn’t you?” his eyes light up a little

“This can explain why I’m so shaken...” he said looking at his hand that was trembling “And I was wondering if it was because I woke up so early.” he let a small laugh and drink the liquid of the container and make a disgusted face, she looked at him preoccupied

“My Wyrm you need to take care of your health…” she sits next to him “But what favors you wanted?” he still was a bit shaken and gave her some papers, almost dropping them

“I only forgot it today, don’t worry… But yes, this paper show some of the kingdoms that are going to be in the  _ ‘heir’ _ presentation, if you want me to add or remove any just write it…” he said pointing to the papers “And did you've already named the vessels?”

“It’s going to be this soon?” she gave a small pause “Can we even prepare the kingdom with this small time?” she asked still looking at the papers

“I don’t know, but the most time it passes the worse that disease becomes, so I thought that presenting them sooner would be the best option we have, we just say that the royal roads are close to renovation so the visitors can only stay in the castle…” he sat down trying to calm himself “And called a doctor from City of Tears to make a check-in on the vessels, I know you prefer doctors from other places, but this one has pretty good reviews and is in a safe place... so no chances to came infected to us…” he said with a sigh

“I understand…” she said still reading the papers “Oh… and I still didn’t name them.”  He looked at her surprised

“Why not?”

“I was waiting for you…” she said a bit disappointed

“Oh…” he said looking another way “Even that I don’t feel comfortable naming them, I can help you…” he said showing her a paper with the faces for each one of the vessels “When I was waiting I did this to make easier to name them without them running around and breaking things.” she took the paper of his hands and started looking at it, and gave a soft smile

“So cute, you draw them…” he got embarrassed

“This isn’t cute!” he started trying to remove the paper out of her hand

“Of course it is, and I love how you tried to remove the flames around ‘devil’.” she said trying not to laugh, while he was getting more red by the minute

“My Root please, stop with this foolishness!” he tried to say with authority, but she simply gave him a kiss in the cheek

“And your drawings got so good, are you practicing?” he gave up on trying to remove the paper of her hands and sat again crossing his arms “You most draw me someday.” he gave a smile

“Maybe if you help me…” he tried to say smugly

“Oh yes, I have a list of names with me…” she said taking a tablet out of her robes “Here let’s start…” she says putting the paper and the tablet next to the king, he moved his seat to be closer to her.

“That’s a lot of names you got there...” he said a bit impressed

“Well I spend a good part of my night choosing the best sounding ones…” she said kissing him again.

 

Naming their children took a bit more time that both wanted. Not that they minded, be years since they spend so much time alone. They were still finishing to write it when they hear a knock on the door, both looked up and it didn’t take long for a bug using white robes to enter

“My king the doctor is here.” he said bowing, the king standed up

“Send him to the room that I asked to be prepared! And call the children to be there too.” 

“Yes my king!” the bug quickly bowed down and was gone, the king looked back to his Root

“I would wish you to went there with me…” he said looking down

“Why would I not want to spend more time with you my Wyrm? And our children.” she said lifting his face with her hand “But I have a favor to ask you too…” she said with a somber voice and the king got nervous

“What is it my Root? Something bothering you?” she looked away from him and with a heavy sigh she continued

“Can you promise me that you wouldn’t eliminate any of them in this check-in?” she was looking at the window trying her best to not look at him. He stayed in silence before responding trying to remember if any of the kids had any form of problem, but he didn’t spend much time with them to notice

“What is the problem?” he said getting next to her in the window, she had tears forming in her eyes

“Just promise me…” she said with a weak voice, he stopped looking at her, he couldn’t take seeing his Root crying, he gave a heavy sigh

“I can’t promise this, but if none have this problem I promise no matter what, they aren’t going to be eliminated…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids will show in the next chapter I promise


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to make easier going to put an image of the vessels here to help to tell who is who, not all heights are still the same, the image is quite old so some things I changed ^^"

 

 

When the king and queen entered the infirmary room, the doctor was still putting his things out of the bag, when he noticed them he quickly bow down

 “Oh sorry… I mean… Greetings my king and queen!” he said quite nervous

 “Doctor Naqis you don’t need for this formality, the children are going to be here soon, so please continue what you’re doing.” said the king

 “Ye… Yes, my king!” the doctor resumed his bow and continued to remove some stuff from his baggage, he was quite fast for a big bug

 “Are you from Soul Sanctum?” asked the queen curious, she always saw her type working there

 “Oh… me? Well, I was there for a little time, but being a guard there wasn’t for me…” he gave a pause “Medicine is much more fascinating and have more sympathetic teachers.” he said with a muffled chuckle, he started to remove some flasks from the bag and putting them against the light, and with a nod he put on the desk “Oh… I remember do the kids have medical sheets?”

 “Medical sheets?” the king said confused looking at his Root that was confused as him

 “Oh don’t worry, is a modern thing, is just to catalog their health easier, I am going to prepare some of the papers then…” he said picking some papers from his baggage “It’s twenty?”

 “Fifteen.” said the king a bit frightened 

 “Don’t worry when you have the first ten the next dozen don’t take too long…” he said with a smile the king gave a fake laugh, and the queen tried to calm him. The doctor was too concentrated to notice the distress in the king eyes. A knock was heard and Aster entered holding one vessel that was asleep in her arms

 “Aster, I hope my little ones didn’t take much work…” the queen said petting the child on her arms

 “Well, I can only say that now I am pretty sure is the king blood that is the problem.” the king glared at her

 “Oh, Aster how happy I’m to see you here.” he faked a smile

 “Can I say the same, my king.” she said giving a bow, the queen shook her head

 “You two stop it right now!” she said whispering, the king looked away and Aster approached the queen and gave her the child 

 “This one got hurt by some thorns when tried to climb the vines” the queen took a careful look at the child “I already passed some medicine, but I think is better for you to know.”

 “Thank you Aster, the others are with you?” said the queen still looking at her little adventurer

 “Yes, do you want one of time or all of them at once?”

 “One at a time, please” she said putting the small child more close to her with a hug

 “Understood!” she said bowing to her and leaving the room

 “Climbing some vines? They must be an athlete!” said the doctor with a smile “If everything is okay, I can start their check-up.” he said approaching the queen, she was a bit apprehensive to let go of her child, but gave them to him “What a nice pair of horns they have and quite pudgy.”

 “What did you call my child?” the king said a bit angry

 “This means they are in good shape…” the queen said trying to calm her Wyrm

 “Yes like the queen said, fat grubs are healthy grubs!” he said laughing that ended up waking the child in his hands, that got scared by the new face and tried to escape “Oh and they are strong!” this perked the king interested

 “Do you think they can be a knight?” the queen glared at him, the doctor gave a pause and put the child under his arm, this one started struggling to try to make him let them go

 “Well they still need to pass their second molding so I can know more...” he put the kid on the table still holding them firmly “Royals don’t tend to ask for this, but I think it can be…” he said looking at the small cuts in the kid body “What you really want me to check on them?” he said more serious 

 “I want you to see what would have the best physique to be a strong warrior... and healthy too.” he completed so the queen would stop glaring at him, the doctor sigh

 “Again they need to pass their second molding to be surer, but for what I’m seeing this one is quite in a good shape…” he picks a small capsule and force inside the kid mouth “This is to protect them for infections from these cuts.” the child started to struggle trying to spit the pill “So that I can make the medical sheet what their name is?”

 “It’s Sol.” the queen said, the king was surprised that she already memorized their names

 “So little Sol you just need to take one more remedy and it’s good.” he said getting a flask and pouring some of the liquid in a small cup and quickly forced in Sol mouth, they spit a little but he quickly closes their mouth with his fingers “Now, now...” Sol couldn’t take any longer and swallow the remedy, the doctor removes his finger from their mouth and Sol started to try to clean their tongue, the doctor petted them in the head and started to write in the sheet “You can bring another one…” he said still writing. The queen approaches them and Sol jumped at her, she almost screamed but was more focused on catching the kid

 “Don’t do this anymore!” she said furious but still quietly just for the kid to hear, she put Sol in the king’s lap surprising him

 “You take care of **your** child! I’ll bring the next one!” Sol still tried to go after their mother, but the king was holding them strongly, both are quite confused for what just happened, but the king didn't want to bother his Root any longer.

She quickly brought more kids to the infirmary and the doctor checked on them, most of them are going normally, but the doctor stopped when noticed that the new kid on his hand had a stub in the place of an arm, he quickly looked at the queen and king that were taking care of the previous patients 

 “Hmm… You’re still pretty healthy…” he said to himself, he couldn’t run away with the kid of a royal, much least from the king “My… my... what I do with you…” he said sadly “I’m sorry.” he said petting the child, that was trying to nibble his fingers, and start to hold them back to their parents, both of them noticed the doctor approaching and looked at him

 “Something wrong?” the king said apprehensively, the doctor let out a sigh and show to them the little stub, the king got up to examine the child, the queen was looking to him wishing he would still keep his word

 “So this was the one you are trying to protect?” he said glaring at the queen

 “My Wyrm…” she tried to calm him, he let out a heavy sigh 

 “They can live...” he said trying to direct his gaze at the other kids, Naqis gave a fake cough

 “They are still pretty healthy… they can even be a warrior, they are quite strong already…”

 “I don’t want it next to my court!” he said outraged, going back to his chair, trying to ignore one of the kids trying to climb on him

 “I’m sorry doctor…” the queen said with sorrow on her voice, Naqis was a bit relieved he hated when he had to kill children, especially for these reasons but was still sad for the kid situation

 “Don’t worry…” he said with a relieved smile and gone back to the desk to finish the examination and give them their medicine “Oh what's the name of this one?” he said quietly so just the queen heard him

 “It’s Rox…” he nodded and started writing their sheet, Rox was trying to pick his pencil, the queen quickly took then to her arms when she noticed.

 

After all the kids had been checked the doctor was giving the small touches to their sheets, the children were mostly sleeping next to their mother even that some still tried to go up to their father lap without much success

 “So... You wanted to know what kids were the best fit for a knight…” the king meets the doctor gaze what made him more agitated “Again the second molding is a big factor… for now this four are the best candidates” he said giving a piece of paper to the king “but most of the others are in great shape so I don’t think would be this hard to make them into knights too…” he gave him another paper “But these ones I would say to have a lookout for them, I don’t think they would survive next season without proper care.” the king gave a quick look at the other paper, but was more concentrated on the first one

 “Who would you advise to take care of them?” said the queen preoccupied, the doctor gave a pause

 “I can see if one of my associates can come here from time to time to check…”

 “Can’t you just stay here?” said the king without looking up

 “I...me…?” he was bewildered with the idea “My king... I don’t even have a royal title… I can’t stay in the castle for long periods…”

 “So you become a royal doctor, so the title problem is over.” the king gave a pause and looked at him “And why you can’t stay in the castle for long periods?” the doctor was in cold sweat

 “My assistant… I mean my daughter… I can’t leave her in the City… and my clinic...”

 “So? Just bring her and your stuff here…” the king said disdainful and started to look at the second paper, the queen looked at him more sympathetic

 “Only do it if you want… I know how much pressure you most feel to be asked to do that from the king.” Naqis was still a bit shaken with the idea

 “I’ll see… Can I have at least a week to decide?”

 “Only three days, I can’t leave the kids without a doctor for so long, especially that you told me that some are sick, I don’t want their sickness to spread…” the king didn’t even look at him and started to make some extra notes in the paper

 “Their sickness seems physical, so don’t worry about that…” the king looked up to him, Naqis wished he was still concentrated at the piece of paper

 “Does these ones need any medicine to help them?” Said the queen, Naqis pondered for a moment

 “Can I be sincere? I never have patients like your kids…” if looks could kill the king would have killed him many times by now “I mean a root and a wyrm, isn’t like something you have many studies about…” he said nervously “So I can only suggest regular warm baths and lots of sunlight plus healthy foods… especially for this one.” he pointed at Rei that was hugging Rox “Their body is too cold so never let them alone.” the queen picked Rei up, this one getting quite distressed to be away from Rox, Rox started to climb the queen to be next to their sibling

 “Oh great, they are bonded…” the kind said with displeasure

 “Look at the bright side, you don’t need a caretaker looking at them all the time…” he faked another cough “Oh, this reminded me, can I ask a question about them?” they both made signs of approval “Is this coloration normal?”

 “Oh, the king can explain this better than me.” She said picking the kids up “If you excuse me…” she said grabbing the last one that had finally climb their dad lap “I am going to spend some time with my little ones.” and got out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So finally the little ones are named, it took me longer than I wanted to, don't do fics on the fly kids...  
> And if you want to see more images of the kids:  
> www.deviantart.com/sloth-power/art/Tiny-Vessels-792944826  
> www.deviantart.com/sloth-power/art/More-Vessels-796349112  
> www.deviantart.com/sloth-power/art/Pile-the-King-791591706


End file.
